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Saturday, September 5, 2009

Product review: Star Kids Snack and Play Travel Tray

We roadtripped to San Luis Obispo today and I bought these slick little lapdesks that got eight thumbs up from our family. Wow. They're called Star Kids Snack and Play Travel Trays, are under twenty bucks, and are worth EVERY penny. TubaDad and I tend to get a little tortured by our active, loud, tv-snubbing girls during roadtrips, so this time I had done tons o' research beforehand and come up with this solution. Worked like a charm!

Ro and Ree could not wait to get strapped into their seats and get their hands on these lapdesks. Our peaceful roadtrip was punctuated only by sounds of pages shuffling, pencil case zippers being opened and closed, questions about who got what car in the travel bingo game, and other gleeful little busy sounds as the girls worked their way through all the goodies I had hidden in the pockets. Ahhhhhhhhhhh...

What We Liked:

The lapdesks are slightly squishy, which means they're super comfy for the kiddos, plus they won't cause any harm if you get in an accident.

They have 2 large and 2 small net pockets on the sides. I filled the pockets with stickers, bendables, notepads, travel bingo games, zippered pencil cases that had tape/scissors/crayons/pens, workbooks, and snack bags, and I put a large clipboard on top of the desk.

The sides of the tray have big soft rims, so nothing rolls off (as the chief-picker-upper on all journeys, I cannot even tell you how exciting this was!!).

The desks are lightweight—the girls didn't complain once about having the trays on their laps, and at naptime they just nodded right off without even noticing them.

Let's see, what else? Oh, the straps were really easy to clip and unclip. We wedged each strap behind the carseat and the back of the seat, so the weight held it in place and then we just leave the strap there all the time, even when the desk is unclipped and stored away.

Things That Could Be Improved:I'd love to see these trays come in a variety of colors. It would be fun for the girls, of course, but it would also allow me to tell whose desk is whose (right now I have to fumble around a little and figure it out by which pencil case is in the pocket).

The Bottom Line:Yes, yes, yes. This is a great lapdesk for travel. It passed the twinado test with flying colors, and we'd definitely recommend it to a friend.

Editors Note:Sharp-eyed readers will probably notice that we will not ever, in this lifetime, be accused of traveling light. Heh. Yes, yes, the van was filled almost to the roof in the back. And no, we're not doing a month-long trip. Oh well... Oh, and that center console is three plastic drawers from Target that we screwed together and bungeed in place. Then we added velcro tabs to keep the drawers from opening while we're driving, and added adjustable cupholders (also from Target, in the auto section) to the top. Top drawer mainly holds sunglasses, middle drawer holds hats and sunscreen, bottom drawer holds blankets and kleenex.

8 comments:

We have seen this desk on Amazon before and wonder how it works with different car seats. It looks like it "sits" on the "armrests" or sides of the car seat. We have a Britax Roundabout that is about to be replaced with a Frontier, and wonder if it will work with it as well. Any thoughts or BTDTs?

Wow!! Those are great! Silly me wondered before opening this post if Wela and BobBob had travelled in the same vehicle with you and then opened the first pic and just laughed!! Oh yah...I forgot!! No wonder we get along so well! One more reason is that neither of us travel light!

This will go on my 'future purchases' list. Thanks for the great write up. I can only imagine all the fun activities that happened in your car yesterday and it makes me grin from ear to ear!

Let the fun continue!!

PS - Can't you blame the fullness of the car on Tuba Dad's tuba? Or, was it sacrificed for great things like sand toys and such? :o)

I came across this while researching travel ideas for toddlers, and I plan on Pinning it. The review of the lap tray is great and I have to say the three drawer idea is genius ( I plan on using that idea myself.) We have a cross country trip soon and these ideas are fantastic, thank you for taking the time to post this!